With an
entire city on lockdown and the whole world watching, crowd reporting on
the drama in Boston last week reached critical mass. Now, we are facing
a critical mess.

Armed with
iPhones, empowered by Twitter and amplified by the high-tech witch hunt
known as Reddit, perhaps more self-appointed citizen “journalists” than
ever broadcast whatever came to mind in an instant, unencumbered by such
quaint considerations as accuracy, fairness and balance – or concern
for the damage that erroneous accusations can inflict.